I’m still recovering from an intensive week at the annual Frank Bette Paint out. This was my fourth year participating, and I find that each year I have grown. I am also inspired by all of the amazing painters who participate, veterans and newcomers alike. I’ll share all twelve paintings I made that week, as well as the live demo I performed at the end! Stick around for the entire newsletter to see a photo of my cat, Ruby. 

Before we get too deeply into that recap, I have a few upcoming shows and events for you to mark in your calendars!

I’m already looking forward to this year’s SF Open Studios. I will be hosted again by Suze Riley at 1942 Divisadero. We are part of weekend 5 on October 24th and 25th. This year I sprung for the fancy registration, so look out for me in the SFOS guidebook! I’ll also have a piece up in the SFOS exhibition, opening on September 18. We will of course have Suze, and this year Mila Kirillova is also joining us, so if you are fan of art about San Francisco, make sure to swing by. 

I’ll be looking to clean out older works, so this is a great chance to collect some of my original paintings at a great price, look through my extensive collection of prints, or just see them in person and say hello!

Much more immediately, Sketchboard’s annual art show is currently open at 5 Olive gallery!

It features a huge variety of figurative work from the Sketchboard community, including two pieces of mine.

I facilitate the weekly figure drawing session at Madrone Art Bar. We have live music and a great community of regulars, with a different costumed model every week. Join us Tuesdays from 6:30-8:30! The session is just $15, cash only, walk-in only. Absolute beginners are welcome and encouraged to come.

The SpookyHaus and I will be back at SF Zine Fest this year! If all goes well in the coming weeks, I will have a brand new book: Views From Fulton, a series of 50 paintings I made two years ago. The series connected with local San Franciscans on a deep level and I am excited to see the whole set together again in book form.

Zine fest is always a delight, and every time I wish I had more time to see all the exhibitors. Come by The Hibernia on September 6th!

Have you ever been to an illustration themed drag show? Me either, but here’s your chance! Fancypants brings you V is for Vellum, a drag show exploring line, form, and overlay. The evening will kick off at 6:00pm this Sunday, August 16th, with a figure drawing session hosted by our poster illustrator Reese Bice, with performer Tuesday Gloom modeling! Bring your own supplies, or grab a VIP ticket and you’ll be provided with a sketchbook, pencil, and markers.

Fancypants is back at the STUD with a scintillating new theme that is sure to dazzle the eye! “V is for Vellum” is an exuberant examination of the overlay between illustration and drag! Of course you can expect vivid explosions of line form and color! But be ready to dive deeper; our artists are exploring translucency, disposability, and so much more! Guest stars Vermiculus Rex, Xylo Phony, and Smooth Landyn, join our stable of hard-working regulars Chester Vanderbox, Polly Amber Ross, Carlota diCarlo, Nicky Nomicon and Tuesday Gloom for an evening that literally illustrates their inexhaustible talent and insight.

Guest illustrators AC Esguerra, Emil Konishi and Jeff Lance will be sketching throughout the show!

Alright, back to story time! 

At this year’s Frank Bette Paint out, I painted side by side all week with my friend and constant painting partner Mila Kirillova, and we were joined by Danny Folkman, Kate Rado, Kathleen Gadway, and Yoriko Ito throughout the week. This year I met Renae Wang for the first time, and I was blown away as always by Sergio Lopez, Cleo Vilett, and Carol Tarzier. 

Mila and I did twelve paintings in just five days, all over Alameda and two in San Francisco during the “off island” day. Three of my paintings found new homes at the big exhibit and sale on Saturday. Danny, Kate, and Mila were each honored with well deserved awards.

If you missed out on the big exhibit and sale, you have another opportunity to see lots of work from all of these amazing artists at the plein air gallery exhibition, open now through September 26th at Frank Bette! I have three pieces in the show:

Special thanks to Danny for befriending people with cool cars and getting them to park for us! Danny also secured us another chance to paint the fabulous Bay Yo Bus, which we also painted last year. 

I found that this year I was especially enthusiastic about cars, telephone wires, and cast shadows. 

During our San Francisco day, I ended up painting Coit Tower twice! The first was a composition I’ve had in mind for a long time from Washington Square Park, and then we revisited the epic view at the top of Filbert. 

We finished the week off with our now traditional visit to Faction Brewing to paint the SF Skyline over the Alameda air field. 

My big first this year is that I was asked to perform the water media painting demo during the exhibition! I’ve taught workshops before, but never actually done an entire painting from start to finish in front of people. I struggled a bit to get into the groove, and then I forgot about my audience and just vocalized my true thought process. Perhaps a little bit too much honesty, but folks seemed to appreciate it. 

I decided to re-create a painting I did Plein Air, which regular newsletter readers have already seen: Golden Gate Bridge from China Beach. I had both a photo of the painting and a photo that I took on site as reference, which underscored how differently I see things in person. The demo painting was influenced by both, and I think it had a stronger sense of confidence. Sometimes, pretending you really know what you are doing makes it true.

Thanks for reading! As a reward, here is a picture of Ruby, exactly as I’m sure she wants to be presented to the world.

While you await the next newsletter, you can check out my website to see my portfolio.

I have prints available in small businesses around San Francisco! Find them at: Queer Arts Featured, Fleet Wood, SF Mercantile, and Locali.

Stay tuned for next month, and let me know what you’d like to hear about in the newsletter in the future by responding directly to this email or reaching out at [email protected].

-Nathaniel J. Bice

he/him

njbice.com